Help about PC specs

xtrabit · 6 June 12, 19:16

Hi everyone

I'm playing Race On+GTR Evo+STCC2 on my HP i5 notebook. It has 2.53GHz i5 CPU, 4G RAM, ATI HD5650 GPU and OCZ Agility 3 SSD. I use my notebook as a desktop with an old 22" 1680x1050 Samsung monitor, external speakers and k/m.

I'm not pleased with performance. At full resolution and full settings, FPS is so low that its not playable. Now i want to build a desktop computer just for simulation games.

I need a perfect PC for Race on/rfactor 2 and upcoming GTR3. But budget is so limited.

I live in Turkey, due to high taxes, i cant get every CPU, GPU ...

I can buy the configuration below:

AMD FX X8 8120 (i7 is almost 2x price, so i cant afford it)
ASUS M5A99X EVO AMD 990X/SB950 board
Powercolor HD6850 GDDR5 1GB 256Bit VGA
Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) Vengeance 1866MHz DDR3 CL9 Ram
WD 3.5" 1TB Caviar Black Sata 3.0 64MB
Cooler Master RC 690 II 80PLUS GX 650W chassis

there is no need for optical drive. i want to upgrade my monitor to a Full HD one later. I also need opinions with this CPU. Please, tell me which part above is unnecessary or underperforming for my needs. Thank you!

edubz123 · 6 June 12, 19:31

CPU must be Intel.

i5 2500K is the recommendation:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...lock,3106.html

is it too expensive in Tukey?

Just stick with Intel socket 1155 CPU family.

xtrabit · 6 June 12, 19:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by edubz123

CPU must be Intel.

i5 2500K is the recommendation:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...lock,3106.html

is it too expensive in Tukey?

Just stick with Intel socket 1155 CPU family.

Thanks
i5 2500K: $54 more than FX X8 8120, OK. Which MOBO do you recommend for i5?

ASUS P8Z68-V LX or MSI Z77A-G45?

And, big question

ATI or NVIDIA?

Tkrau · 6 June 12, 20:48

Personal opinion only in saying that if it doesn't say nVidia on it, it isn't worth owning. Watch now as all the ATI fans come to beat me up for saying that...

Seriously tho, I do kinda wonder if you're going a little overboard with the RAM (you ARE using a 64 bit OS, right?). I've got 2x2gigs in this system (plus another gig on the video card) and it runs GTL and GTR2 just fine @ 1920x1080...GPU temps don't even get close to the danger area, either.

xtrabit · 6 June 12, 20:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tkrau

you ARE using a 64 bit OS, right?

Yes, 64bit Win7

I mostly choose AMD CPU, because of price. In Turkey, price is the most important thing when buying sth. We must do everything with a really low budget. I prefer ATI GPU's just because AMD/ATI compability. If CPU is Intel, Nvidia becomes another option.

edubz123 · 6 June 12, 21:37

save money and go with Z68 mobo. (maybe save even more money with P67 chipset like this)

For GPU I agree with Tkrau but the decision will rely on your local prices. Nvidia GTX570 is what to aim for if you can reach it.

where's DD when you need him? lol

DurgeDriven · 6 June 12, 22:42

Z77 is hardly dearer, ie: $12 US at NewEgg

You get better IvyBridge support and Gen3 video

MSI Z77A-G45 is a nice board, you will run 4.4GHz-4.5GHz 24/7

Maybe get your video card later, as you said you have 1680 res

That way you can buy a good CPU cooler now and get the most out of the 5770 at 4.5Ghz ( it will be a lot faster /smoother )

Then later get even a better card then the 6850.
You will have all your parts to sell as well ie: put the 5770 in it and another DVD or buy yourself a new one. they cheapest part.

Tkrau · 6 June 12, 23:22

I've used hot-rod Asus boards for years, both in my personal machines and in customer builds, and never once had a problem with any of them. That said, MSI does make a nice board.

And I'd agree with maybe waiting a bit on the GPU if it weren't for the fact that the HD won't work in a desktop machine, as far as I know.

DurgeDriven · 7 June 12, 01:05

Nothing wrong with getting Asus but I would grab Gen 3 is all, the one he linked is PCI-e2.0

With Z77 he would have both CPU and GPU upgrade path in 12-24 months.

His PSU will have no problem powering new Gen card I would not think.

Tkrau · 7 June 12, 01:31

Firsties...apologies for my comment on the GPU; I got the notebook HD and the 'real' HD confused. Ignore what I said about compatibility up there.

And yeah...I also didn't notice that the board was a 2.0. Definitely go for the G3.

I'd still suggest sticking some version of an optical drive in the system, since decent ones are cheap and GOOD ones aren't too much more. It'll make software installing a lot easier overall. Buy 6 gigs of RAM and use the leftover cash for a drive.

xtrabit · 7 June 12, 11:31

Updated with your suggestions:

Intel Core i5 2500K CPU
MSI Z77A-G45 Intel Z77 Board
Powercolor HD6850 GDDR5 1GB 256Bit VGA
Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) Vengeance 1866MHz DDR3 CL9 Ram
WD 3.5" 1TB Caviar Black Sata 3.0 64MB
Cooler Master RC 690 II 80PLUS GX 650W chassis

According to passmark, HD6850 gets 2749, MSI GTX550 Ti Cyclone II O.C. GDDR5 1GB 192Bit (same price) gets only 1886 points.

Looks like AMD is performing well. Your opinions? I've reached my budget limit now.

DurgeDriven · 7 June 12, 12:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by xtrabit

Updated with your suggestions:

Intel Core i5 2500K CPU
MSI Z77A-G45 Intel Z77 Board
Powercolor HD6850 GDDR5 1GB 256Bit VGA
Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) Vengeance 1866MHz DDR3 CL9 Ram
WD 3.5" 1TB Caviar Black Sata 3.0 64MB
Cooler Master RC 690 II 80PLUS GX 650W chassis

According to passmark, HD6850 gets 2749, MSI GTX550 Ti Cyclone II O.C. GDDR5 1GB 192Bit (same price) gets only 1886 points.

Looks like AMD is performing well. Your opinions? I've reached my budget limit now.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P...S_Plus/15.html

You can see @1680 HD7850/GTX560Ti grab a healthy gain over a HD7770 ( about the HD6850 price/performance I think)

Well worth saving the extra for a faster card imo, especially when you have a system to power and push one.

xtrabit · 7 June 12, 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by DurgeDriven

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P...S_Plus/15.html

You can see @1680 HD7850/GTX560Ti grab a healthy gain over a HD7770 ( about the HD6850 price/performance I think)

Well worth saving the extra for a faster card imo, especially when you have a system to power and push one.

Found this: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/539?vs=541

HD6850 looks much better than GTX 550 Ti. Will prefer ATI.

groenemeier · 11 June 12, 22:14

I'm a bit late, but your performance issue could be caused by just using one of your CPU cores. My laptop has an Intel Core2Duo with 2.5GHz, and I wasn't pleased with the performance, too. Then someone told me that Race07 is using only one core of the CPU, but can use two.

To use two cores you have to start the game, then press Ctrl+Shift+ESC to start the Task-Manager, rightclick on race07.exe, click on "Set Affinity..." and then unselect one core and press OK. After this rightclick on race07.exe again, click again on "Set Affinity..." and select the core again, so that every core is "allowed to run the program" and press OK.

After this Race07 should use two cores, what will give you a performance boost, if your performance was limited by just using one core. If it was limited by the GPU it won't help you.

You have to do this after every start of the game.

DurgeDriven · 12 June 12, 00:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by groenemeier

You have to do this after every start of the game.

http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=27320

Tkrau · 12 June 12, 00:42

Beat me to it.

andicirk · 13 June 12, 07:24

im pretty sure that the Race 07 (steam .exe) runs natively on all cores

Andi

CaptSlower · 13 June 12, 19:55

in my experience nvidia do it better on gmotor2 games and their visual fidelity out of the box is better - and before anyone says fanboy, have had multiple Ati cards and nvidia cards in the past. In my 20+ years of gaming I have found nvidia to be less troublesome but each to their own lol.

if it's a choice between a 550 or 6850 then I would get a gtx470/480, bigger bang and less money, then simply add another later for a serious contender for way less dollar.

DurgeDriven · 13 June 12, 21:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptSlower

in my experience nvidia do it better on gmotor2 games and their visual fidelity out of the box is better - and before anyone says fanboy, have had multiple Ati cards and nvidia cards in the past. In my 20+ years of gaming I have found nvidia to be less troublesome but each to their own lol.

Ditto

xtrabit · 23 June 12, 08:53

One more question: is race on/rfactor/rfactor 2/gtr3 will benefit ati crossfire config?

i think 2xHD6850 will be a better choice. will start with one, than add one.

max attack · 23 June 12, 09:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by xtrabit

One more question: is race on/rfactor/rfactor 2/gtr3 will benefit ati crossfire config?

i think 2xHD6850 will be a better choice. will start with one, than add one.

I would recommend against ANY ATI card that ends in a 50.
Those cards are made for the money conscience type of person and not made for gamers.

pistoncup · 23 June 12, 09:41

I have a ASUS HD6950 CUII 1GB for a while now and it's quite a good card. It was hardly money conscious buy, it was around $350

6 June 12, 19:16	#1
xtrabit Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Istanbul,Turkey	Help about PC specs Hi everyone I'm playing Race On+GTR Evo+STCC2 on my HP i5 notebook. It has 2.53GHz i5 CPU, 4G RAM, ATI HD5650 GPU and OCZ Agility 3 SSD. I use my notebook as a desktop with an old 22" 1680x1050 Samsung monitor, external speakers and k/m. I'm not pleased with performance. At full resolution and full settings, FPS is so low that its not playable. Now i want to build a desktop computer just for simulation games. I need a perfect PC for Race on/rfactor 2 and upcoming GTR3. But budget is so limited. I live in Turkey, due to high taxes, i cant get every CPU, GPU ... I can buy the configuration below: AMD FX X8 8120 (i7 is almost 2x price, so i cant afford it) ASUS M5A99X EVO AMD 990X/SB950 board Powercolor HD6850 GDDR5 1GB 256Bit VGA Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) Vengeance 1866MHz DDR3 CL9 Ram WD 3.5" 1TB Caviar Black Sata 3.0 64MB Cooler Master RC 690 II 80PLUS GX 650W chassis there is no need for optical drive. i want to upgrade my monitor to a Full HD one later. I also need opinions with this CPU. Please, tell me which part above is unnecessary or underperforming for my needs. Thank you!

6 June 12, 19:31	#2
edubz123 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Chicago USA	CPU must be Intel. i5 2500K is the recommendation: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...lock,3106.html is it too expensive in Tukey? Just stick with Intel socket 1155 CPU family.

6 June 12, 20:48	#4
Tkrau Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Central California	Personal opinion only in saying that if it doesn't say nVidia on it, it isn't worth owning. Watch now as all the ATI fans come to beat me up for saying that... Seriously tho, I do kinda wonder if you're going a little overboard with the RAM (you ARE using a 64 bit OS, right?). I've got 2x2gigs in this system (plus another gig on the video card) and it runs GTL and GTR2 just fine @ 1920x1080...GPU temps don't even get close to the danger area, either.

6 June 12, 21:37	#6
edubz123 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Chicago USA	save money and go with Z68 mobo. (maybe save even more money with P67 chipset like this) For GPU I agree with Tkrau but the decision will rely on your local prices. Nvidia GTX570 is what to aim for if you can reach it. where's DD when you need him? lol

6 June 12, 22:42	#7
DurgeDriven Join Date: Jan 2011	Z77 is hardly dearer, ie: $12 US at NewEgg You get better IvyBridge support and Gen3 video MSI Z77A-G45 is a nice board, you will run 4.4GHz-4.5GHz 24/7 Maybe get your video card later, as you said you have 1680 res That way you can buy a good CPU cooler now and get the most out of the 5770 at 4.5Ghz ( it will be a lot faster /smoother ) Then later get even a better card then the 6850. You will have all your parts to sell as well ie: put the 5770 in it and another DVD or buy yourself a new one. they cheapest part.

6 June 12, 23:22	#8
Tkrau Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Central California	I've used hot-rod Asus boards for years, both in my personal machines and in customer builds, and never once had a problem with any of them. That said, MSI does make a nice board. And I'd agree with maybe waiting a bit on the GPU if it weren't for the fact that the HD won't work in a desktop machine, as far as I know.

7 June 12, 01:05	#9
DurgeDriven Join Date: Jan 2011	Nothing wrong with getting Asus but I would grab Gen 3 is all, the one he linked is PCI-e2.0 With Z77 he would have both CPU and GPU upgrade path in 12-24 months. His PSU will have no problem powering new Gen card I would not think.

7 June 12, 01:31	#10
Tkrau Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Central California	Firsties...apologies for my comment on the GPU; I got the notebook HD and the 'real' HD confused. Ignore what I said about compatibility up there. And yeah...I also didn't notice that the board was a 2.0. Definitely go for the G3. I'd still suggest sticking some version of an optical drive in the system, since decent ones are cheap and GOOD ones aren't too much more. It'll make software installing a lot easier overall. Buy 6 gigs of RAM and use the leftover cash for a drive.

7 June 12, 11:31	#11
xtrabit Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Istanbul,Turkey	Updated with your suggestions: Intel Core i5 2500K CPU MSI Z77A-G45 Intel Z77 Board Powercolor HD6850 GDDR5 1GB 256Bit VGA Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) Vengeance 1866MHz DDR3 CL9 Ram WD 3.5" 1TB Caviar Black Sata 3.0 64MB Cooler Master RC 690 II 80PLUS GX 650W chassis According to passmark, HD6850 gets 2749, MSI GTX550 Ti Cyclone II O.C. GDDR5 1GB 192Bit (same price) gets only 1886 points. Looks like AMD is performing well. Your opinions? I've reached my budget limit now.

11 June 12, 22:14	#14
groenemeier Join Date: Oct 2011	I'm a bit late, but your performance issue could be caused by just using one of your CPU cores. My laptop has an Intel Core2Duo with 2.5GHz, and I wasn't pleased with the performance, too. Then someone told me that Race07 is using only one core of the CPU, but can use two. To use two cores you have to start the game, then press Ctrl+Shift+ESC to start the Task-Manager, rightclick on race07.exe, click on "Set Affinity..." and then unselect one core and press OK. After this rightclick on race07.exe again, click again on "Set Affinity..." and select the core again, so that every core is "allowed to run the program" and press OK. After this Race07 should use two cores, what will give you a performance boost, if your performance was limited by just using one core. If it was limited by the GPU it won't help you. You have to do this after every start of the game.

12 June 12, 00:42	#16
Tkrau Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Central California	Beat me to it.

13 June 12, 07:24	#17
andicirk Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: South of France	im pretty sure that the Race 07 (steam .exe) runs natively on all cores Andi

13 June 12, 19:55	#18
CaptSlower Join Date: Nov 2009	in my experience nvidia do it better on gmotor2 games and their visual fidelity out of the box is better - and before anyone says fanboy, have had multiple Ati cards and nvidia cards in the past. In my 20+ years of gaming I have found nvidia to be less troublesome but each to their own lol. if it's a choice between a 550 or 6850 then I would get a gtx470/480, bigger bang and less money, then simply add another later for a serious contender for way less dollar.

23 June 12, 08:53	#20
xtrabit Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Istanbul,Turkey	One more question: is race on/rfactor/rfactor 2/gtr3 will benefit ati crossfire config? i think 2xHD6850 will be a better choice. will start with one, than add one.

23 June 12, 09:41	#22
pistoncup Join Date: Apr 2012	I have a ASUS HD6950 CUII 1GB for a while now and it's quite a good card. It was hardly money conscious buy, it was around $350